Discussions for major leaguers to play in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics baseball tournament remain in the early stages, with players used to top hotels wanting to be assured of accommodations.
Major League Baseball has envisioned an extended 11-day All-Star break. The last regular-season games before the break would be on July 9, followed by the All-Star Game on July 11, likely at San Francisco, and the Olympic tournament at Dodger Stadium from July 13-19. The season would resume July 21.
“In general our players want to play in the Olympics. They’re patriotic, and for them it’s a special opportunity, and we want them to have that opportunity,” union head Bruce Meyer said Tuesday ahead of the All-Star Game. “Having said that, we want to make sure that they have things like travel and accommodations, and things that they deserve based on who they are.”
Five entities are involved in the negotiations: Major League Baseball, the players’ association, the International Olympic Committee, the LA28 local organizing committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation.
Meyer characterized discussions as early.
“We’re focused on player quality of life,” Meyer said.
The United States qualified automatically as host, and the Dominican Republic and Venezuela earned berths based on their finish in this year’s World Baseball Classic. Asia and Europe/Oceania will have one spot each and the sixth nation will be determined during a final qualifying tournament.
“We went down the road on LA 2028 because we saw it as a unique opportunity to market the sport with our very, very best players,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “It is a disruptive undertaking for us. Put money to one side, you’re disrupting your entire season, and if we’re going to undertake that effort we want our very best out there so that people see how great our game really is.”
MLB wants player participation to be mandatory for those chosen along with those picked for future All-Star Games.
“The proposals they made in terms of what the discipline would be, the ramifications of a player who doesn’t want to do that, in our view were extreme,” Meyer said.
Meyer said San Francisco would be the 2028 All-Star Game site, but Manfred said MLB hasn’t made a final determination.
MLBPA says it is not a federal target
Meyer gave a brief update on the federal investigation into One Team Partners, a licensing company the MLBPA founded with the NFL Players Association.
“It’s our understanding that the MLBPA and its current staff are not and have never been targets of this ongoing investigation,” he said.
Robot umpires
Manfred is happy with the Automated Ball-Strike System, which began this year with teams able to challenge strike zone decisions. There are no plans to use ABS for all ball/strike calls.
“We’re letting the dust settle on the challenge system,” he said. “Who knows what’s next? I really don’t have a plan on that.”
Cincinnati has been the most successful challenging team, winning 64.4%, followed by Arizona (62.2%), Detroit (60.4%), the Athletics (57.5%) and Texas (56.7%).
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Pittsburgh had been the least successful at 41%, and just above are Cleveland (43.7%) the Chicago White Sox (47%), Washington (47.1%) and San Francisco (48.4%).
Clubs have been successful on 53.2% of the 6,040 challenges. Batters have won 47.9% of 2,810 challenges and fielders (catchers and pitchers) 58% of 3,230.
Eliminating high school players from amateur draft
Manfred detailed why MLB has proposed banning an amateur in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico from signing until he was at least 20 years old by the Sept. 1 of his signing year and two years removed from the graduating year of his high school class.
“Seventy to 75% of our players are college players now,” he said. “That is a dramatic change in the way that baseball operations people think about colleges.”
MLB also wants to encourage players to get higher education.
“Talking players out of going to college, I’m not sure I agree with that just in terms of the overall development of the human being,” he said.
Reporting by The Associated Press.